Wildrose joins demands for public inquiry into Redford's expenses; former minister apologizes for flight

Wildrose leader Danielle Smith says an RCMP review of the auditor general's report released Thursday is not enough.

Photograph by: Christina Ryan, Calgary Herald
, Postmedia News

One of eight Progressive Conservative MLAs who accompanied former premier Alison Redford on a government airplane to attend a Tory party fundraiser apologized on Friday for the error.

The apology came the same day that the official Opposition demanded a public inquiry into "rampant misuse and abuse of tax dollars" in the former premier's office.

Calgary-Varsity MLA Donna Kennedy-Glans, who now sits as an independent, published a statement on her website Friday, personally apologizing for "inappropriate travel" on the government flight from Grande Prairie to Calgary on Oct. 25, 2012, to return from the PC party's northern Alberta leader's dinner.

Kennedy-Glans wrote that she "did not make sufficient enquiries about logistics of the flight that evening, after the dinner, from Grande Prairie to Calgary. I apologize for making assumptions about the integrity of the flight logistics," according to her statement.

"I am sorry. I do understand the lines between politics and governance. The PCAA has undertaken to reimburse these costs and I apologize personally for my error."

Kennedy-Glans left the Tory caucus in spring to sit as an independent. Earlier this week, she asked to rejoin the PC government.

The flight was one of three raised in Thursday's tough auditor general report as instances where Redford used a government plane to attend partisan PC events.

The other PC MLAs who travelled to or from Grande Prairie for the fundraiser include cabinet members Wayne Drysdale, Fred Horne, Cal Dallas, ex-ministers Ken Hughes and Christine Cusanelli, and MLAs Wayne Cao and Everett McDonald, according to government flight manifests posted online.

Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith said the other MLAs and cabinet ministers on the flight must take responsibility, as Kennedy-Glans did.

"Give a real genuine, heart-felt apology to show that you understand that you did something wrong...pay the money back," Smith said.

At a news conference in Calgary on Friday, Smith called for a public inquiry to get to the bottom of the problems highlighted in the auditor general's explosive report, saying a broader probe is needed to get to the root of the issues and determine whether the same practices are taking place across government.

"We have a PC party that is trying to pretend that it's just the former premier who is the problem," she added. "We're asking all three of the leadership contenders to commit to holding a public inquiry into this issue, should they get elected."

Jim Prentice, Thomas Lukaszuk and Ric McIver are all running in the race to replace Redford as the next PC leader and Alberta premier, with party members selecting the replacement next month.

In a blog post for the Herald on Thursday, former Redford chief of staff Stephen Carter said the PC party shares some of the blame along with Redford for the inappropriate use of the government airplanes - and the party's leadership must address the issue.

"What do you say to these PC party members who took advantage of government aircraft for partisan purposes?" he wrote.

The other two flights highlighted by auditor general Merwan Saher include the PC provincial board meeting in Red Deer on June 15, 2013, and a golf tournament in Lethbridge co-sponsored by the party on Aug. 26, 2013.

On Thursday, PC president Jim McCormick said the party will pay $6,500 to cover the full costs of the three flights.

He said the party chartered two flights to Grande Prairie for the October dinner and invited Redford and her staff aboard to fly from Edmonton, however, the former leader "disregarded" the arrangements.

Redford also chose to fly to the two other party events in question on the government aircraft, McCormick said, insisting the party wasn't privy to her travel arrangements at the time.

"We weren't making choices for her. She made her choices," he said, vowing the same situation won't happen again.

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